Calm Before the Storm
by Longing for Oblivion
Summary: After a case brings some bad memories back for Angell her life isn't the only one spiraling outta control. When Angell decides to leave NYC to work undercover things return almost to normal, but is it really over or is it just the calm before the storm? (currently being rewritten)


_**Discs.:**__ I don't own CSI NY nor its characters!_

_**Summary:**__ After a case brings some terrible memories back for Angell her life isn't the only one spiraling somewhat outta control. When Angell can't take it anymore and decides to leave NYC to work undercover things return almost to normal - but is it really over or is it just the lull before the storm? _

_**Pairings:**__ Flack/Angell, Mac/Angell, Mac/Stella (though only for a few chapters)_

_**Genres:**__ Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Friendship, Action, Suspense_

_**A/N:**__ Well, I'm now working on this story for a felt eternity and naturally the story went through quite a transformation from the original idea to the actual story by now, so I decided to repost it with a new summary, however, I decided against rewriting the story, considering that I actually like it the way it is - despite being quite messy._

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**Calm Before The Storm**

_1. Memories_

Getting out of her car Angell couldn't stifle a yawn, considering that she hadn't slept too well the passed night. Taking a deep breath she pushed the door of the coffee-shop open. As she scanned quickly her surroundings she froze for a moment, before turning on her heels and hurrying out the door, almost running into Mac.

"Angell, everything okay?" Mac wanted to know, giving her a concerned look.

"Eh, yeah... This is just not exactly how I wanted my day to start..." Angell replied after a moment and forced a smile onto her face.

For a few seconds Mac eyed her suspiciously then he smiled as well and headed inside the building. Eventually she followed him, after all, she had to do her job, right?

Taking another look around Angell got momentarily completely lost in thought. It was obviously a robbery gone terribly wrong. There were eleven victims, another four people had been brought to the hospital in critical condition, though it was very unlikely that they would make it. However, it could've been even worse if the robbers had hit the place a few hours earlier or later, when there would have been more customers.

After another moment she took a deep breath and headed to talk with the owner of the coffee-shop, who was waiting in his office. Seeing her the officer who was waiting at the door left.

Entering the room she simply looked at the man for a few seconds, before stating,

"Mr Ramirez?" When the man looked up she showed him her badge while adding,

"I'm Detective Angell from the NYPD... Can I ask you some questions?"

Seeing him nod she walked further into the room and asked,

"You called the police, right?"

Ramirez swallowed hard then he nodded and said,

"Yeah, but I wasn't here when it happened..."

"Where were you at that time?" Angell wanted to know.

"I had gone to see my doctor for a regular check-up, after coming here to open up."

"When was that?"

"Well, I got here at five. First I made some coffee for myself and checked the register, to make sure that there was enough change in it. When the coffee was ready I took it and headed in here to go through some papers, while waiting for my employees. I left at half-past six after telling my daughter when I would be back..." His eyes welled up with tears as he mentioned his daughter, who was one of the four people that had been brought to the hospital.

"Did you notice anything suspicious when you left - or when you arrived here?" Seeing Ramirez shake his head no Angell went on,

"When did you come back?"

"Around eight... When I saw what had happened I first checked if someone was still alive, then I called the police, I also asked for paramedics... The woman I talked with told me to wait here and not to touch anything, which I did - I just sat next to Carrie and tried to stop the bleeding..." The tears were by now running freely over his face, his voice was shaking.

"Are there any security cameras in here or in front of the building?"

He nodded and stated,

"There's one at the entrance, one at the back-door in the alley and three inside the building. We keep the tapes for three months, before deleting and re-using them."

"We need to take a look at those tapes..." She paused for a moment then she said,

"We will also need to take reference-prints of you and those employees who didn't work today - to tell their prints apart from possible traces of the robbers."

Ramirez nodded once more and Angell turned to leave, but stopped when he spoke up once more,

"Please promise me that you will find the people who did this..."

Looking back at him she smiled softly and assured him,

"We'll do everything we can to catch these guys."

It wasn't exactly a promise, after all, she knew better than that, knew that sometimes they could do all they wanted but the bad guys got away with it nonetheless. Sure, back when she had been a rookie, fresh from the academy and all idealistic, she had made that mistake a few times - even though in the back of her mind she knew that it was impossible to know for sure if they would be able to catch a criminal, and if they did, it was still a whole different story if the person would also be convicted for his crimes.

A moment later she left to talk with Mac. Seeing that he was on the phone with someone she let out a sigh as her eyes wandered through the room. Taking a look at the blood on the floor, the bodies that hadn't been brought to the ME's Office for examination yet, Angell closed her eyes as she got eventually overwhelmed by memories...

_**Flashback:**_

_Taking a seat opposite her friend Kathryn in one of the booths close to the entrance Jess took a sip of her coffee._

_"Okay, Jess, what's your secret?" Kathryn wanted to know a moment later, causing Jess to raise an eye-brow._

_"What do you mean?" She asked._

_"Oh come on, as if you didn't know what I'm talking about! I mean, how you're doing all of this stuff __**and **__still find the time for your friends and hobbies?"_

_"I honestly dunno... Does it really matter?" Angell stated, giving her friend a questioning glance and took another sip of coffee._

_"Of course it does! For Christ's sake you just turned nineteen and instead of deciding to enjoy your life for some time after the final exams you wanna become a cop? Are you really serious 'bout that idea?" Kathryn inquired._

_"I'm ambitious, 'k? There's nothing I can do about it... Not that I would see how having ambitions would be a bad thing anyway." She pointed out and focused her attention on the table and her coffee._

_"Well, it won't kill you to slow down a bit..." Kathryn let out a sigh._

_Hearing that Angell couldn't help but chuckle for a moment, however a few seconds later she went silent as she looked up and her eyes met the ones of a black-haired guy sitting in a booth across from them._

_"Jess?" Kathryn's voice brought her back to reality after a moment._

_"Sorry, what were you saying?" Angell said, focusing her attention back on her friend, before Kathryn could figure out what had distracted her._

_Kathryn gave her a look and repeated,_

_"I said, I seriously doubt that your dad wants you to be totally burnt out before you're even twenty-five..."_

_Choosing to ignore that comment Angell checked her watch and pointed out,_

_"We should better leave or we're gonna be late."_

_Kathryn couldn't help but grin and stated,_

_"Right... God beware that you're ever gonna be late for a lecture - or even miss one..."_

_They both laughed but before they could even get up four man came in. They wore identical jeans and t-shirts along with black ski-masks - and all four of them were carrying guns, two of them a maschine-gun._

_While her mind was still trying to process the situation Angell watched how one of the guys headed to the counter and grabbed the closest waitress. Holding the gun to the woman's head he ordered,_

_"Open the register and give me the money!"_

_Meanwhile another of the men turned the sign in the door around, while the other two went to close the blinds of the windows._

_In the corner of her eye Angell saw one of the customers reach underneath his jacket, while the robbers were distracted. She couldn't help but turn to look at the blonde guy. As their eyes met the man lifted his left index-finger to his lips and shook slightly his head, while he unsecured his gun._

_Did this guy seriously believe that he could make these men give themselves up? If he did he must be either stupid or suicidal - maybe even both, after all, even if he managed to take one of these guys out the other three would kill him in the matter of seconds, not to mention that spooking them like that would probably cause them to freak totally out..._

_As if to answer her silent question the blond got up, pointed his gun at the closest robber and yelled,_

_"NYPD! Drop your weapons!"_

_In the matter of seconds the four perps turned toward the man and started shooting at him, at least a dozen bullets hitting him before he even went down. Next thing she knew there were bullets flying through the entire coffee-shop. Angell immediately ducked, though she was pretty sure that those guys were determined to make sure that there won't be any witnesses left behind. _

_She wasn't sure how much time had passed when one of the man came into her direction. A moment later he stopped next to her and demanded,_

_"Get up!" _

_Lifting her head Angell looked down the barrel of the guy's gun._

_"I said __**get up**__!" He yelled at her waving his gun in front of her, as he added,_

_"I'm not gonna say it another time!"_

_Taking a deep breath she did as she had been told, though she wasn't quite sure what the point was - the guy would probably kill her one way or the other. As she rose from her seat she caught sight of Kathryn, her head was resting on the table, surrounded by a pool of blood, the crimson liquid coloring her once blonde hair dark red._

_The moment she stood the guy grabbed her left wrist, a dirty grin on his face. Instinctively she kicked him into the groin, causing him to draw in a sharp breath. But instead of letting go of her he hit her with his gun into her face and stated,_

_"That hurt, bitch..." While speaking he pulled her closer, then he lifted once more the gun and brushed with the barrel over her right cheek. _

_A few seconds later he bent down, trying to kiss her. Angell pulled away, somehow managing to free her wrist from the guys tight grip, and spit him straight into the face._

_"Never gonna happen." _

_"You really wanna die that badly?" He yelled and lifted his gun, pointing it at her forehead._

_Time seemed to slow down for a moment as she stared at the gun in front of her. Then everything happened at once - she saw the man's finger tighten around the trigger, at the same time the black-haired guy got up from his seat. Barely a split second before the robber pulled the trigger, the other man pushed her away, sending them both to the ground._

_She felt her head hit the corner of the booth where she had been sitting quite hard. It didn't take long before she started feeling dizzy and everything around her began to get blurry. Drifting more and more to unconsciousness she took a look at the man that had just saved her life, and who was still leaning over her. _

_As Angell saw the growing blood-stain on his shirt, the slightly pained expression on his face she realized that this complete stranger had not just saved her life but had also taken a bullet for her..._

_Before she lost consciousness completely she noticed that the robber who had wanted to kill her was gone. A moment later she also realized why as she heard the sound of sirenes coming closer. Then everything around her went black..._

_**End Flashback**_

"Angell?" She heard distantly Mac's voice, and a moment later she felt him rest one of his hands on her right shoulder, causing her to flinch and snap out of her reverie,

"You're okay?

Looking up she noticed the worried expression on his face, in his eyes, and got aware of the fact that she was shaking.

"Yeah..." She hurried to say, forcing a smile on her face.

"Are you sure? You've been totally lost in thought, staring into the blue for like ten minutes... Your entire body is shaking..." Mac pointed out, obviously not the least convinced.

"I'm sure Mac, don't worry." Angell assured.

Hearing that Mac sighed, but nonetheless he let the issue drop and wanted to know,

"So, what was the owner able to tell you?"

Grateful for the change of topic Angell's smile widened and she told him,

"Mr Ramirez says he arrived here at five this morning to open up and make sure that everything was ready for the day. Then he waited for the employees who worked the first shift today to show up and while waiting he was going through some papers in his office. However, he wasn't here during the robbery, because he had his annual check-up. He left around half-past six and didn't return until eight o'clock. Says that after checking on everyone he immediately called it in."

Mac nodded, then he asked,

"Security-cameras?"

"Five. They're keeping the tapes for three months." Angell replied,

"I already told him that we will need to take a look at them and that we will have to talk with the other employees."

"Alright... Anything else?"

"Nope... I'll head back to the precinct now."

"Okay..." They shared a smile and locked eyes for a moment,

"Call when you got a suspect."

"Will do."

Turning to leave Angell took another look around before heading outside, determined to focus on work until the case was closed, though she could already tell that it won't be easy to push the memories away again.

_Three days later, half-past eight:_

Closing the door of her apartment behind her Angell let out an exhausted sigh. After a few seconds of thinking she headed into the direction of her bathroom to take a quick shower before trying to get some sleep.

In the back of her mind Angell knew she should also eat something, but even though she had barely eaten anything during the last three days she wasn't hungry. Furthermore she was damn exhausted and all she wanted to do at the moment was getting some rest.

Pulling off her clothes as she entered the bathroom a yawn escaped her mouth. Taking off her ear-rings she glanced at her reflection in the mirror over the sink and noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

Feeling the hot water run over her skin Angell closed her eyes for a moment, trying to relax. Realizing that it was pretty much pointless she sighed once more and turned off the water.

After rubbing her skin dry and getting dressed in one of Flack's t-shirts, she stared for another time into the mirror, coming to the conclusion that she wasn't in the mood to blow-dry her hair, considering that it was still quite warm.

It wasn't until she laid down on the bed that she realized how tired she really was. The last three days had certainly taken a toll on her. She had been so driven to solve the case that she hadn't slept in over sixty-five hours, keeping herself awake with coffee.

However, she just couldn't relax enough to find to sleep, instead her mind was running in circles, always returning to the same things. Tossing from one side to the other Angell sighed frustrated, unable to stop thinking about the case, about the fact that three of the people who had been brought to the hospital had died and the fourth was in a coma, and would probably never wake up again. And to make things worse she simply couldn't push the memories away...

_Short after eleven PM:_

Angell wasn't quite sure about how much time had passed when she finally started drifting off to sleep.

A moment later she felt someone lying down next to her and wrap his right arm around her waist.

"Flack..." She mumbled, turning to look at him.

"Hey... Sorry, that I woke you up." He stated, lifting his hand to her face, caressing softly her cheek.

"Don't be... I wasn't sleeping yet anyways." Angell said, before turning back around.

She felt Flack letting his fingers slide through her hair, then he caressed softly her arm. A moment later he wrapped his arm once more around her, pulling her closer.

It didn't take long before he fell asleep while Angell was still wide awake again. Letting out another frustrated sigh she turned onto her back and simply stared at the ceiling, trying to focus her attention on something else but work and the past.

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__ Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this first chapter! I will try to post the next chapter soon as well. In the meantime, please do me a favor and REVIEW!_


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